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Gettysburg College tops TCNJ in women's lacrosse

By DANIEL PAULLINGThe Evening Sun

Posted:
03/21/2013 12:12:08 PM EDT

Gettysburg College's Amanda Borucki charges carries the ball down field as College of New Jersey's Marissa Pennypacker defends during the women's lacrosse match on Thursday at Gettysburg College. (The Evening Sun -- Shane Dunlap)

Gettysburg College women's lacrosse coach Carol Cantele wasn't worried when the Bullets blew a late lead Wednesday afternoon to The College of New Jersey.

Sure, her team was trailing with 8 minutes, 24 seconds left after allowing four consecutive goals. But she kept something in mind.

"Two teams, the tides change when somebody steps up," Cantele said. "'OK, there's their turn. Once we get a couple more draws, we'll have ours back.'"

Fortunately for Cantele, her thoughts were prophetic. The No. 5 Bullets rallied for an 11-10 win at Gettysburg College, beating the seventh-ranked TCNJ for just the fourth time in 17 tries.

The victory was their first since a 10-9 victory in the NCAA Regional Final in 2009. Cantele believes it will help as the Bullets open Centennial Conference play Saturday at Haverford and host No. 4 Middlebury on Monday.

"We're just excited that it'll fuel us," she said. "This game is always one where it's, 'If, when.' Now it's now."

Gettysburg received a hat trick apiece from attackers Bridget Kenny and Kelsey Markiewicz, who scored the winning goal. TCNJ's Alex Spark scored four goals, all in the second half, to give her 28 through just six games.

The Bullets (6-0) jumped to a 5-2 lead midway through the first half but allowed two TCNJ goals to trim the margin to 6-4 going into halftime.

The Bullets exited the break on a 2-1 run for an 8-5 lead, but the Lions (4-2) scored four consecutive goals over the next 11:41 for a 9-8 lead.

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The Bullets responded with a 3-0 run - the momentum shift Cantele believed was coming.

After Markiewicz scored what would be the winning goal with 3:31 left, the offense met on the field to discuss what their plan would be for the remainder of the game.

"We knew we had to pick up the draw for the next possession," Markiewicz said. "That was key. We knew it would come down to the last shot, the last possession. We came up with it."

The Bullets did so because of senior defender Mairead McGuirk, who helped them go 13 of 22 on face-offs. Being 6-feet tall helped her push the ball into the air, something Cantele had wanted. Cantele's scouting led her to believe the Lions were better in collecting ground balls.

"It was huge," she said. "That's an area we actually haven't been as successful as we would've liked."

The game was preceded by a moment of silence in memory of Kristina Quigley, 30, a Seton Hall University lacrosse coach who died in a bus wreck in Carlisle en route to a game against Millersville. Cantele tried to use the incident as inspiration for her players.

"Everyone's empowered by that and wants to play hard for all the women that can't," Cantele said. "Certainly that was our motto going into the game and will sustain us through the year: 'Don't take anything for granted.'"